An Easy Introduction to Spanish Conversation / Containing all that is necessary to make a rapid progress in it - Mariano Velázquez de la Cadena

ARTICLES.

		Singular.		Plural.
The	{ masculine	El		Los
The	{ feminine	La		Las
A or an	{ masculine	Un	SOME	unos
A or an	{ feminine	Una	“	unas

NOUN

Nouns are substantive or adjective, and have number, gender, and case.

NUMBER

Singular and Plural.—Nouns terminating in a short, or unaccented vowel, add an s for the plural; as, boy, muchacho; boys, muchachos. Nouns ending in an accented vowel, or in a consonant, or in y, add es to the singular; as, ruby, rubí; rubies, rubíes; lion, leon; lions, leones; ox, buey; oxen, bueyes. Nouns terminating in z, change it into c to form the plural; as, cross, cruz; crosses, cruces.

GENDER

Every he, or male animal, is of the masculine gender; as, man, hombre; every she, or female, is of the feminine gender; as, woman, mujer. Nouns of inanimate objects or things ending in a, ad, bre, ion, are for the most part feminine; and those terminating in e, i, o, u, on, are masculine. The exceptions, however, are very numerous.

Common nouns ending in o, change it into a to form the feminine; as, son, hijo; daughter, hija. There are some that express their gender by a different word or termination; as, father, padre; mother, madre; bull, toro; cow, vaca; poet, poeta; poetess, poetisa. (See Ollendorff, p. 246.)